South Asian Women & Media Episode 1: Colorism in South Asian Media
Swati P., edited 2/15/2026

Introduction

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When you watch your favorite Bollywood movie, the first thing that may not come to mind is the heroine’s skin tone. Once you notice it, you pick up on a pattern — almost all the actresses you see are fair-skinned. Not just in the Bollywood industry, but Tollywood and Kollywood as well.

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What’s striking is the disparity between this and real life. South Asia is home to a diverse range of skin tones, resulting from geographical and genetic differences. Why do we only see fair tones in cinema, then?

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This isn’t an accidental choice. It’s rooted in years of casteism, influenced by British colonialism, and perpetuated by media.

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Context

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The Hindu religion’s practices are built upon foundational texts, such as the Vedas. Among these texts include the demarcation of four social classes, or varnas — Brahmin (priest), Kshatriya (noble), Vaishya (commoner), and Shudra (worker), listed in order of highest to lowest ranking. The Hindu epic Mahabharatha describes these varnas as colors — Brahmins as white, representing virtue, and Shudras as black, symbolizing misdeeds.

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During the age of Enlightenment, European colonizers justified their actions using pseudosciences, claiming that non-Europeans were racially inferior, including their darker skin tones. British rulers in India legally designated these castes and added a fifth one called the Dalits, historically known as “untouchables”. The higher castes consisted of lighter-skinned Caucasians or Indo-Europeans, while the lower ones were made up of the darker-skinned native population.

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Fortunately, caste-based discrimination is outlawed in India. Article 17 of India’s Constitution states that any practice promoting the idea of untouchability is a punishable offense. However, stigmas surrounding skin tones continue to exist, where fairness is seen as more favorable. A 2015 study published in the Washington University Global Studies Law Review found that, out of a sample of 100 students from various parts of India, 71 percent used the words “fair” or “light” when asked to describe “pretty”. A 2019 article by Neha Dixit, an independent journalist and author, discusses the influence of dermatological products, stating that around 60 percent of women reported using skin-lightening products.

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Additionally, a 2026 study from Social Sciences & Humanities Open revealed that, in 2024, 88.6 percent of matrimonial listings emphasized fairness, highlighting how light-skin is seen as superior in Indian cultural customs as well. The emphasis on skin tone in Indian marriages highlights the misogyny associated with colorism. For instance, a 2021 research paper by Reena Kukreja, an assistant professor at Queen’s University, asserts that potential grooms “capitalize on the vulnerability of darker-hued women’s parents to make excessive dowry demands,”. The paper illustrates this, through this statement by a Prabha Devi, a Dalit Odiya mother who recalls the difficulties in getting her younger daughter married, due to her dark-skin:

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“The grooms here were asking for cars, lakhs [hundreds of thousands] in cash, silver, and other household goods. ‘Without these’ they would say, ‘we will not marry your daughter.’ Many men came to see her but rejected her because she was dark colored. Everyone wants fair skin. Some even dared to ask for property—they said, ‘If you don’t give us land, we will reject your marriage proposal.’ So, poor folks like us cannot get their darker daughters married as the dowry is too high. From where can we get the

resources to do that?”

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This statement reveals how colorism is a main factor regarding disparities regarding the custom of dowry — an already harmful practice, as it is often associated with domestic violence against women.

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Colorist ideals, taken to the extreme, have also proven deadly. The Times of India reported a 2024 crime, where a man from the Petasannegandla village of Andhra Pradesh poisoned his 18-month-old daughter for being dark-skinned. This incredibly tragic incident highlights the deep-seated ideals present in Indian societies, and emphasizes the urgent need to fight them.

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The Influence of Media

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As a child, I was taught to hate my dusky skin color. Growing up in America, I barely saw media representation of Brown girls like me. The media I did grow up with was Kollywood films, where predominantly fair-skinned actresses were shown — making me feel like I was somewhat inferior.

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What I didn’t know as a child was that the media isn’t always representative of reality. Colorism is so embedded in Kollywood, to the point that most of the actresses aren’t even Tamil. One of the major actresses in the Kollywood industry was Amy Jackson, a fair-skinned British actress from Liverpool. This lack of authentic representation and inclusivity with regards to skin tone only perpetuates harmful beauty standards, as seen in the case of my childhood.

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Fortunately, the media has begun to act against this.

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Companies have taken steps to ensure inclusivity in beauty regarding skin tone. In 2020, for example, the Indian branch of the consumer goods company Unilever decided to rename its popular skin-lightening product from Fair & Lovely to Glow & Lovely. Sunny Jain, a company executive, discussed the reason for this change, stating that the company “[recognizes] that the use of the words ‘fair’, ‘white’ and ‘light’ suggest a singular ideal of beauty” and that they wished to change this, as reported by The Guardian. Additionally, famed South Asian women have also begun advocating against such products and for inclusivity. In 2018, Indian model and actress Priyanka Chopra spoke out about her skin tone to Vogue India, illustrating how the awareness of colorism as an issue has gained traction among some of India’s most renowned stars:

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“Then when I was an actor, around my early twenties, I did a commercial for a skin-lightening cream. I was playing that girl with insecurities. And when I saw it, I was like, ‘Oh shit. What did I do?’ I started talking about being proud of the way I looked. I actually like my skin tone.”

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More recently, actresses have begun to reject fairness products as a whole. South Indian actress Sai Pallavi rejected a Rs 2-crore (around $220000 USD) advertisement for a fairness product and opened up about her own experiences with colorism in an interview with Behindwoods:

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“I’ve tricked [my sister] several times. She liked cheeseburgers and had a complex that she wasn’t as fair as I am. When we stood in front of a mirror, she would look at my face and then at hers. I noticed this several times. So I told her that if she wanted to become fair, she should eat fruits and vegetables. And she did. She doesn’t like fruits and vegetables at all but she still ate them because she wanted to be fair. I felt very bad about that, the impact it had on a girl five years younger than me.”

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Other major celebrities, including Anushka Sharma, Kalki Koechlin, and Taapsee Pannu have refused to support skin-lightening brands. Though slow, this indicates a burgeoning step to inclusivity in India’s entertainment industry.

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However, biases continue to exist in South Asian cinema — especially with the continuing use of “brownface”. A popular example is the 2019 Hindi-language film Bala, in which actress Bhumi Pednekar played the role of a woman who faced discrimination because of her dark complexion. However, instead of casting a dark-skinned actress for the role, the director selected Pednekar and had her skin darkened. The director, Amar Kaushik, described his choice in an interview with Press Trust of India, reported by Hindustan Times:

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“There was an initial thought about casting a dark skinned actor. I can’t say who we approached as this is not right to say. During the audition, you get to know whether an actor suits the part or not. The actor should look convincing. I felt Bhumi was superb for this character,”

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Numerous other movies have included similar uses of brownface, such as the 2021 Hindi-language film The Family Man and the 2025 Tamil-language film Retro, in which actresses Samantha Akkineni and Pooja Hegde, respectively, were painted brown to portray Tamil characters. South Asian media has made significant steps forward, but clearly, it still has a long way to go.

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Ironically, Western media has been increasingly more accepting of various skin tones. Revered actresses with a wider range of skin tones, such as Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Simone Ashley, Avantika Vandanapu, and Mindy Kaling have redefined Brown representation in Western media, proving that talent, not one’s skin tone, equates to prestige. The diversity in skin tone present in Western media proves that South Asian media can, and should, adapt to accommodate actresses with a wider range of skin tones.

Colorism has proven to be a devastating, yet deeply engraved, ideal in South Asian society. We have seen how it limits the upward mobility of women, influences how people define “pretty”, and changes how young children exposed to colorist media see themselves. The media is an incredibly powerful force, and the ideals they represent often define what its consumers value; so, it is fortunate that South Asian stars, like Priyanka Chopra and Sai Pallavi, as well as major beauty brands like Glow & Lovely, have begun to voice their experiences and anti-colorist stances. Still, Indian cinema hasn’t been completely progressive, seen with the surprising use of brownface. Directors, who are responsible for casting choices, must take responsibility in casting actresses with a wider-range of skin tones, helping promote the ideal that skin tone has nothing to do with one’s value.

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The South Asian media industry needs to step forward and begin to embrace the diversity it’s supposed to represent.

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Author Bio: Swati P. is a student writer based in Seattle, Washington, and the editor-in-chief for The Lotus Paper. She has been recognized by the Scholastic Writing Awards, and her works range from journalism to creative fiction and poetry. She is passionate about exploring the intersection between femininity and social justice, especially within the South Asian diaspora.

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This change can only be done with the support of our fellow South Asian teens. Convincing a large industry isn’t a one-person job; it requires numerous voices, awareness, and efforts towards advocacy — all which our series, South Asian Women & Media aims to do. The Lotus Paper encourages South Asian teen girls to fill out this form to share their stories with colorism, body image, beauty standards, feminine empowerment, and representation, and we will publish your powerful voices in an end-of-series special.